


At Long Last

by amyfortuna



Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Courtship, Gift Giving, Implied/Referenced Injuries, Kissing, M/M, Twincest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2017-06-04
Packaged: 2018-11-05 22:00:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11022450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amyfortuna/pseuds/amyfortuna
Summary: Five times Elrohir gave Elladan gifts, and one time Elladan returned the favour.





	At Long Last

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thegreatpumpkin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegreatpumpkin/gifts).



_Third Age 206_

Finally, Elrohir was returning from his trip to Lindon with their mother. Elladan stood on the veranda of the House, an arm around a pillar, waiting not-so-patiently until Elrohir dismounted from his horse and was starting to climb the steps up to him. 

It was the first time they had been separated for any longer than a day, and Elladan wasted not a moment in flinging his arms around Elrohir, who laughed and hugged back, but after a moment, drew back a little to place something round and smooth into his hand. 

"Here, I brought this back for my favourite brother."

Elladan weighed the striped golden-brown stone, sea-smoothed and hand-polished, in one hand, his other arm wrapped fast around Elrohir. "I'm your only brother," he said, unable to keep the grin off his face. 

"So you are," Elrohir replied, laughter in his voice.

* * *

_Third Age 1409_

The blare of trumpets announced the return of the company, and many of those left behind in Rivendell jostled their way out to meet the returning Elven band. They came back defeated, unable to push back the power of the Witch-king of Angmar, even with such great lords as Glorfindel and Elrond himself among them. 

And Elrohir was with them too. Elladan, hurt in a training exercise the day before the message came through from Amon Sûl of their great danger, had been unable to go with them, much to his regret. He watched carefully for any sign of Elrohir in the crowd, and finally spotted him riding just behind their father, eyes cast down as if in thought. 

As though he noticed Elladan's eyes on him, finally he looked up, and a smile made its way onto his face. In another moment, he was clasped tight in Elladan's arms, and then slipping a hand between them, something shining within it.

"What is it?" Elladan asked. 

"A token," Elrohir replied. "I brought it back for you, my favourite brother." 

Elladan gave him a smile, falling into a familiar pattern, as Elrohir pinned the brooch, shining silver with a white jewel set in the centre of it, on his breast. "I'm your only brother." 

Elrohir patted the brooch, pinned just over his heart. "So you are."

* * *

_Third Age 1985_

"The passes over the mountains are dangerous in these days, I feared so much for you," Elladan breathed, holding onto Elrohir as though he never wanted to let him go. "I still cannot believe Father wouldn't let us both go -- that business about needing the translation done urgently was obvious nonsense."

"Shh, all is well, I've returned safely, so you can stop fussing now," Elrohir said, a smile lighting up his eyes. "I slew many goblins and was very valiant!" He laughed, and stepped away for a moment, reaching for the pack he'd removed from his horse and flung down in favour of hugging Elladan. "I found something for you, my favourite brother." 

Elrohir handed across a small dagger in its sheath, and Elladan drew it out carefully. "I'm your only brother," he said by rote, staring in awe at the carved runes on the blade. 

"So you are," Elrohir replied. "What do you think?"

"Where did you find a dagger of _Himring's_ making, of all places?"

Elrohir shook his head. "Somewhere...not very nice."

* * *

_Third Age 2516_

"Don't you dare do that again, do you hear me?" Elladan sank to his knees beside Elrohir's limp form. He'd returned to Rivendell half-unconscious, falling from his horse into Elladan's arms, and after several anxious hours, was finally sleeping, dosed up on poppy and other opiates, the many wounds he'd returned with all bandaged carefully. 

They were alone in the sickroom. Even Elrond had gone to take some rest, and the moon shone brightly over Elrohir's wan face. Elladan took his hand and pressed his lips to it, kissing it over and over, letting his tears fall freely. He wanted to rage at Elrohir, and he wanted to do exactly the same thing Elrohir had done, riding out to avenge their mother. 

Bent over Elrohir's hand, kneeling on the wooden floor, he finally drifted off into an uneasy sleep. 

When he woke, it was just sunrise, and Elrohir was stroking his hair softly. 

"My favourite brother," Elrohir said, weak and low, and Elladan's anger ebbed away at the words. "I have something for you."

Elladan turned to the pack that had been on Elrohir's saddle, and which someone had laid beside his sickbed the night before. 

"In the second pocket on the front. It's a small thing, just a token for my favourite brother." 

"I'm your only brother," Elladan said, pulling out a stained and worn book that looked like some kind of ancient diary.

"So you are," Elrohir said. "And I thought you might be able to make something of this. The leather bindings have kept it from too much harm and it was wrapped in a waterproof cloth, which I had to abandon. It has a Noldorin look to me. It was preserved in one of the high caves, well out of the way of wind and water. What do you make of it?"

Elladan turned it over in his hands, and finally carefully cracked it open. "It appears to be a diary kept by someone who lived in Ost-in-Edhil, long ago. Perhaps even by one of the Gwaith-i-Mírdain! This could be quite a discovery, Elrohir!" He glanced through it, almost caught up to distraction in the mystery of its pages. 

A glance back at Elrohir reminded him of what his brother had been through, and he set the book aside with a frown. "But far rather than books would I have my brother hale and whole," he said, catching up Elrohir's hand. 

Elrohir sighed. "I know. But I must do something. Every time I close my eyes I see her face as it was when we found her."

"I, too," Elladan said. "At least make me this promise: if we desire vengeance, we will carry it out together. Do not ride out alone, and I will not, in my turn, go without you. For how would you have felt if it was I who fell unconscious into your arms yestereve?"

Elrohir's eyes widened. He took a deep breath. "I understand," he said after a moment. "I will not ride out for vengeance without you by my side."

* * *

_Fourth Age 24_

Elladan emerged from the front door of the Last Homely House East of the Sea for the third time that morning, peering anxiously off in the direction of the mountain paths, hoping to see banners and a a steady troop of horses streaming down the steep path into Rivendell's lands. 

His lack of patience, this time, was rewarded. At the head of the column, Elrohir was riding, a bright smile on his face, a bunch of flowers held in one hand at his breast. He seemed to sense Elladan's eyes on him, and flung his head up, tossing a dazzling smile across the distance that still separated them. 

Elladan wrapped an arm around one of the wooden pillars that held up the veranda, for restraint as much as for support. Everything in him wanted to run to his twin, but he had to be the sober and quiet lord of Rivendell and could not skip across the fields like he was a elfling, not anymore. 

It felt like far too long, but after a few minutes Elrohir was dismounting from his horse and running up the steps to him, flowers still in his hand. Something bright and eager was in his tone as he flung an arm around Elladan and whispered, "For my favourite," pressing the flowers into Elladan's hand. 

Elladan returned the embrace, laughing, and replied, "I am your only...!" He trailed off a little, suddenly realising that there was a missing word in that sentence, and stared stunned up into Elrohir's face. 

Elrohir smiled, and with a light gesture brushed a lock of Elladan's hair from his forehead. "So you are," he whispered, low and intimate. Elladan's limbs all turned to water as Elrohir released him, going up the last two steps and through the front door, leaving Elladan staring after him, all the blood from his brain seemingly long departed for points south. 

Three thousand years of brotherhood had in an instant turned to love-longing with just a few whispered words. Elladan made his way through the rest of that day in a daze, hardly thinking of the orders he gave, or the food he ate, or the thousand small duties he attended to. Everything in him was building to a point, the knowledge of a desperate need that had been sleeping, deep as any dragon on his gold, until those words awakened him. 

Elrohir did not come down for dinner, having sent word that he was weary and in need of sleep. Elladan had little appetite himself, and after presiding vaguely over dinner, left the evening's entertainment in Lindir's capable hands. He climbed the stairs to the tower that housed the family's bedrooms, most of them empty and desolate now that Arwen was gone, now that Elrond was gone. 

Elrohir's door was half-open, and Elladan closed it carefully behind himself, after a moment's reflection bolting it, too. He tiptoed across the room to the bed, where Elrohir lay silently sleeping, curled up on his side as he was wont to do. Elladan sat down beside him on the bed, and for a long while just watched him sleep, noted the flicker of his eyelids, the way he breathed deep and even, the way the blanket slipped down his shoulders, baring more of him to view even as Elladan looked on. 

At long last, everything made a strange sort of sense, as though he had been hunting for a particular book, and found it not, but another which had given him all the answers he needed and more. 

Elrohir stirred a little, and Elladan laid a hand gently on his arm. After a moment, Elrohir blinked into wakefulness, sitting up and smiling up at him with a peculiar kind of tenderness in his look. "Yes?"

Elladan's breath caught in his throat. Before he could think about it too hard, he leaned forward. "For my favourite," he said softly, and pressed his mouth to Elrohir's, heart beating hard. Elrohir opened to him, warm and yielding, deepening the kiss beyond any ambiguity. 

"I am your only?" Elrohir breathed against his lips as they separated. 

"So you are," Elladan said, and kissed him again.


End file.
